Comments on: What is that german word? Farviewenbier?

Question: What is that german word? Farviewenbier?

toxic — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:29:03 -0800

What is the German word for a beer enjoyed at the top of a summit that you have just climbed?

So, a few months ago, my wife and I hiked over the summit of Mt Tongariro. When we reached the summit and were enjoying the view, we saw two German gentlemen enjoying beers and the view (and we wished that we'd had that sort of foresight). They told us that this was a traditional thing for German hikers to do on top of mountains that they summit, and they even had a specific word for the beer enjoyed on such an occasion. It was a long compound word (perhaps t he words for beer and mountaintop smooshed together). It was a noun: "We are drinking our _______ at the edge of the red crater".

What was this word? And what do you know of the tradition of drinking a beer on the summit? Or were they just pulling our legs?

By: Malor

Malor — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 14:57:16 -0800

Yummenbierzen.

Heh. no, that's a lie. I've tried multiple searches, and I'm not seeing any suggestion of this anywhere on Google, so I'm wondering if they were indeed pulling your leg?

By: sueinnyc

sueinnyc — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:08:25 -0800

I never heard of such a tradition in my time in Germany, and they might totally be pulling your leg but on a whim I searched for Gipfelbier ("summit beer'). I got 702 hits on Google and 7 photos on Flickr that seem to depict the scenario.

Awesome title, btw.

By: snownoid

snownoid — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:19:35 -0800

Gipfelbier or Gipfelhalbe (Halbe = half a liter of beer), it's simply a reward for having made it to the top, Gipfelschnaps is also common.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 15:47:00 -0800

Sueinnyc is correct. Prost!

By: gauchodaspampas

gauchodaspampas — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:08:51 -0800

Maybe related: There's a small beer company from here in the Twin Cities called Summit, most well known for Summit Extra Pale Ale. I always assumed it was named after Summit Ave. Turns out the brewery is not even on Summit ave. Their website doesn't explain the origin of the name. Maybe it's named after Summit ave. Maybe after the traditional German beer. Maybe both. Maybe neither.

By: ikkyu2

ikkyu2 — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 22:21:56 -0800

"Peak Beer."

The phrase itself makes me shudder.